The present invention broadly relates to therapeutic exercising devices. More particularly, the instant invention provides a bicycle type of exercising device which is especially designed for use by paraplegic invalids who are essentially unable to exercise themselves.
A paralyzed person is one who has experienced a total loss or impairment of voluntary muscular power, whether from an organic disease, including injuries, or from psychiatric causes. The handicapped person who has experienced paralysis of both legs, paraplegia, whether due to organic causes such as a lesion below the cervical segments of the spinal cord, or from psychiatric causes, that is, a psychoneurosis, evidencing itself in the form of a motor symptom of paralysis of the legs, requires that the paralyzed limbs be manipulated. In the absence of physical therapy involving the progressive stretching and exercise of the legs, contracture of the tendons and muscles of the legs occur whereby atrophy sets in.
It is common practice in the treatment of paraplegics to manipulate their legs manually, however, the services of a masseuse is expensive where an invalid requires a considerable amount of attention. Consequently, countless types of mechanical exercising devices have been perfected in the art over the years for use by paraplegics, for example see U.S. Pat. Nos. 964,898 and 3,661,149. Needless to say, many of these devices are expensive to manufacture and/or are somewhat difficult to employ. Care must be exercised in preventing serious forms of injury to the invalid, for example, by the patient's legs or feet becoming displaced on the machine which is generally equipped with sufficient power actuated means to inflict serious injury to the feet or legs of the patient. Another distinct disadvantage of many of these prior art devices is the fact that they are also not very portable.
Among the unique advantages and features of the present invention is the provision of a bicycle type of exercising device which is very simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture, very portable, and simple to employ by an operator in its initial setup and adjustment, as well as in its mode of operation to manipulate the legs of the paraplegic patient.
The above together with other features and advantages of the instant invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art in light of the details of construction and operation of the present bicycle type of exercising device as shown in the drawings and described in the ensuing detailed disclosure of its preferred embodiments which are particularly pointed out in the appended claims.